HOMSTEAD, Fla. - After missing out on a big finish in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, Santa Maria native Paul Edwards recovered in a big way Saturday in the second race of the Rolex Grand-Am Series season.

Edwards and co-driver Kelly Collins cruised to victory in the GT class at the GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami in their No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R, moving to third in the GT points after two events.

The Edwards-Collins duo started from pole and led most of the race, only losing leads during the pit-stop shuffles. The race featured nine caution periods in the 99-lap race, breaks that gave the front-running Edwards an advantage on the field.

“I was able to get really good restarts,” Edwards said. “With the yellows we could cool the tires and then they would be good for a couple of laps before they went away a little. This allowed me to keep the gap to the guys behind. We haven't been very good at this track in the past, so the win is a great effort.”

The No. 07 car, which finished 10th of 45 cars in the overall results, has now won two of the last three GT races in the Rolex Series, winning the nine-hour Sunchaser in Utah last September.

In the Daytona Prototype category, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas drove their Chip Ganassi-owned entry to the overall victory.

The series returns to action on April 19th in Mexico City.

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WSC Baseball

AHC survives, wins marathon game

Taylor Stiles hit a drive down the right field line to score Jonathan Ramirez with two outs in the 16th inning and Hancock defeated Santa Barbara 5-4, in a marathon Western State Conference game played Saturday at John Osborne Field.

Ramirez reached base on an error by the shortstop, then stole second base, to set up the game winner by Stiles.

The Bulldogs were kept in the game by outstanding pitching performances from Sam Jones and Mickey Jannis. Jones, the starter, pitched seven and a third innings, allowing only two unearned runs on five hits. He walked two and struckout seven.

Jannis, the Bulldog closer, entered with one out in the eighth and went eight and two thirds innings to earn the win. He allowed just one hit, walked two and struck out seven.

AHC has now won three straight games, including a win over the Vaqueros on Wednesday and a non-conference win on Friday at Porterville.

Hancock will host Oxnard on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in another WSC game.

March 30, 2008